A Melbourne clergyman who wishes to remain anonymous has broken the silence today, stating that he is commonly mistaken as a stripper and even as a common thug or bikie.
Between sobs, Fr ‘X’ stated:
“I have to wear a clerical collar when I go to events and when I visit parishioners in hospital, otherwise people don’t believe I’m a priest. I didn’t spend over 10 years training to be ordained as a minister of God for people to think that I am a common tradesman, or criminal. Even on a good day, people presume I am a stripper or a boxer, and I can’t even box!”
Fr X stated that he regularly experiences discrimination being a young priest who likes to keep physically fit. “Many people think that most priests are old and fat. Just because I’m young and healthy, people presume that I couldn’t possibly be a religious leader. I am forced to wear clerical dress when visiting the sick in hospital after hours, otherwise the staff ask me to leave.”
The level of discrimination is so high that even in clerical dress, Fr X has on several occasions been presumed as an imposter: “They scowl and ask me whether I am a ‘real’ priest, or if I am just dressed up as one.”
Photo by James Ogley 